A federal court has denied a bid by the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation to halt payment of CARES Act funding because the formula the Department of the Treasury uses to determine which tribes get the money shortchanged the tribe.
Treasury uses a formula based on HUD Indian Housing Block Grant data that determined that the tribe had 883 members when its enrollment showed 4,840, and showed that some other tribes had a population of zero. The disbursement of the CARES funding intended for tribes is, in part, determined by population. It also takes into account tribal expenditures and employment data.
U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta didn’t rule on the merits of the tribe’s objections, but decided that the disbursement of the remaining $3.2 billion should not be halted because he didn’t have jurisdiction to hear the challenge. The tribe had argued that unless the payouts were halted the fund would be depleted.
The judge wrote that the CARES Act, “does not require the secretary to even consider population data, let alone population data of a particular kind.” He wrote that it would be unfair to make other tribes wait for their funds.
Amicus briefs calling for the immediate payment of the funds were filed with the court by two tribal groups. They noted the Treasury Department has already delayed funds to them six weeks after the deadline set by Congress and said they couldn’t wait. Many of them rely on casino profits from casinos that have been closed since March.
The Treasury Department announced last week that it would begin disbursing the remaining 40 percent of the $8 billion in CARES tribal funding. The first round of funding began paying out in May.
Due to objections raised on its formula, the Treasury Department initially set aside $679 million, which is calculated based on the difference in the formula it used for population and the formula the tribes use.
However Judge Mehta ruled that the Treasury Department doesn’t have the authority to hold back any of the funding. Its only option is to determine the correct allocation and to pay the money.
